Less than a month and a half after a gas explosion rocked the Wheatley Ont., downtown core, the Municipality of Chatham-Kent is reporting a gas leak at the same location.
Just after 4 a.m. Friday morning, the municipality said monitoring equipment at 15 Erie St. N., in Wheatley detected hydrogen sulphide gas.
A leak in the same area resulted in an explosion on Aug. 26 that damaged several buildings and injured at least 20 people.
Municipal officials say Friday’s leak may help investigators locate where the problem started.
Thomas Kelly, Chatham-Kent General Manager of Engineering and Infrastructure Services, said the gas release is following a pattern.
Gas was first discovered June 2 and monitoring devices detected gas again on July 19 and Aug. 26.
“One of the possible theories is that gas pressure is building up underground to a level where it finds a path to release into the atmosphere. Once the gas releases, it begins to build up pressure over time and releases again,” Kelly said.
“We have had incidents 47, 38 and 43 days apart.”
With gas still being detected at the site, the Chatham-Kent Fire Service and the provincial hazmat team have sent samples of the gas to a lab in Windsor, Ont.
“This is the best sample we have been able to obtain so far. We are confident it will provide new evidence to assist with the resolution of the problem,” Kelly said.
Following the latest discovery, a number of officials were on scene Friday, including the Ontario Fire Marshal’s Office, Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Conservation and Parks, and Chatham-Kent technical staff.
Officials are continuing to monitor the area around the evacuation zone and say the situation does not currently warrant any change to the evacuation area that was put in place after the first explosion.
Rumours that the use of ground penetration radar and electromagnetic technology to map the subsurface of the area may have played a role in releasing the gas are without merit, Kelly said.
Following the August explosion, the Ontario government announced $2 million in funding to go towards the recovery effort.
The funding will help businesses affected by the blast reopen and families affected cover certain costs.
–With files from Matthew Trevithick
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